Method of supporting mine roofs and supporting means therefor



Oct. 22, 1963 A A. w. cALDER METHOD OF SUPPORTING MINE ROOFS AND SUPPORTING MEANS THEREFOR 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.'

ALEXANDER W. CALDER BY I M, @wu/7 ATTORNEY Oct. 22, 1963 I A, w, CALDER 3,107,902

METHOD OF SUPPORTING MINE ROOFS AND SUPPORTING 'MEANS THEREFOR Filed Dec. 29, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 `INVENToR. ALEXANDER w. CA I DER ATTORNEY United States Patent O METHD F SUPPRTING MINE RGFS AND SUPPRTITQIG MEANS THEREFR Y Alexander W. Calder, Frankiin, Pa.,

Manufacturing Company, Pittsburgh, tion of Pennsyivania Filed Dec. 29, 1953, Ser. No. 7%,497

3 Claims. (Cl. 262-1) assigner to Joy Pa., a corporaporting timbers be held up against a mine roof by ilexible elements in ti e form of steel cables extending transversely across a mine passageway with their ends secured to roof anchor bolts, and wedges have been employed be- -tween the mine roof and the anchor bolt heads. The supporting .timbers held by the cross cables are usually of the block and wedge type. The present invention contempla-tes improvements over such known roof supporting means in that the flexible roof supporting elements extend longitudinally along the roof of the mine passage- Way and may be readily extended as mining progresses. In `accordance with 'the present invention, continuous steel ropes or rope sections extend longitudinally along the roof of a mine passageway formed by a continuous mining machine, such as a bore miner, and the ropes are fastened at points spaced .therealong to the roof by anchor bolts to hold cross supports such as timbers or planks up against the roof, and hangers secured by the anchor bolts serve to support the ropes in roof supporting position. Wedges may cooperate with the hangers to Secure the ropes in place, and the ropes may be wound on a reeling means which may either be placed back of the mining machine in the mine or may be mounted on the mining machine itself and may pay out the ropes as the mining machine advances.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved flexible and extendible mine roof supporting means. Another object is to provide an irnproved roof supporting means using cross members held 1n position against the roof by steel ropes extending longitudinally within a mine passageway along the roof thereof. A further object is to provide either continuous or sectional Wire ropes supported at intervals by roof anchors and serving to hold cross timbers in supporting relation with the roof. A still further object is to provide improved reeling means either located back of the mining machine in the mine or mounted on the mining machine for paying out the ropes as the mining machine advances. Yet another object is to provide improved rope hangers held up against the roof by anchor bolts and having hook-shaped portions for engaging the longitudinal rope sections for supporting the latter in position. Still another object is to provide improved Wedge-type rope supports. These and other objects and advantages of the invention will, however, hereinaiter more fully appear the course of the ensuing description.

In the accompanying drawings there are shown for purposes of illustration two forms and a modification f 3,137,9@2 Fatented Get. 22, 1.963

of FIG. 1, showing details of the root supporting means.

FIGS. 3a and 3b taken together constitute a longitudinal detail view showing the supporting ropes, cross timbers and anchor bolt hangers.

FIG. 4 is a detail vertical section taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 3a.

T1IG. 5 is a detail verticai section showing the wedgehook and hanger taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6l shows a modified form of rope support and wedge` FIG.V 7 is a detail cross section taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a detail longitudinal section taken on line 8 8 of FIG. 7.

FIGS. 9a and 9b, taken together, constitute a longitudinal section through a mine passageway, similar to FIG. l, and illustrating a further modied form of the invention.

In both forms of the invention, as shown in the drawings, a continuous mining machine which, desirably of the type known as a bore miner I, for example the Joy Twin-Boren forms a passageway 2 in a mineral vein of an yunderground mine, providing a roof 3, a iloor 4, and sidewalls 5. A-s mining progresses the dislodged and disintegrated mineral is conveyed rearwardly by the machine conveyor 6 to suitable mineral transportation means in the mine, in a well known manner. As the mining machine advances the roof of the passageway must be suitably supported, and eXtensible-roof supponting means is generally designated 7. The roof supporting means comprises extendible flexible supports ii` in Ithe form" 'of steel ropes or wire cables and as the mining machine advances these ropes are paid out by reeling means 9, which may be located in the mine passageway back of the mining machine, as shown in FIG. 1, or may be mounted on the machine itself, as later expalined.

In the flexible and extendible roof supporting means disclosed in FIGS. 1 to 5 inclusive, the wire ropes 8 are Wound on the reeling means 9 which may be power driven and clutch controlled if desired, and may have a suitable reel brake so that the ropes may be drawn off from the reel under some frictional resistance. rI`he ropes extend upwardly from the reel around suitable idlers 10l secured to the roof as by anchor bolts 11 and the ropes extend longitudinally along the roof of the mine passageway in guided relation with securing means I2 having wedge members or supports 13 provided with upper rope receiving and guiding grooves I4. These Wedge members have wedge portions 1S tightly/.held within transverse recesses 16 within hangers I7, the latter also secured to the roof -b-y similar anchor bolts. The ropes extend from the secu-ring means I2 at the extreme left as viewed in FIG. 1, above the machine, around suitable idler-s I8 journaled on brackets 19 mounted on the mining machine and which, if desired, may be swivelled about upright axis. The lropes pass around these idlers and extend rearwardly along the roof of the mine passageway in supported engagement with hooked portions 20 on lthe wedge members lli, below the upper strands of the ropes, as shown in FIG. 4. The ends 21 of the ropes have end enlargements or terminal lugs 22 which engage the hanger of the securing means I2 at the extreme right, as viewed in FIG. 1. In FIG. 3a the end enlargement of a rope section is shown in abutting contact with one of the anchor bol-t hangers. Transversely extending roof supports such as cross timbers or planks 23 are held up against the roof by the wire ropes, as shown in FIGS. '3a and 3b, with the rope sections 24 passing beneath the cross timbers as shown, for holding the latter firmly in roof supporting positions.

In FIGS. 6 to 8 inclusive there is shown a modified form of rope securing means which may employ rope sections 2S rather than the continuous ropes of the preferred embodiment. In this construction, roof anchors 26 secure lateral hangers Z7 up against the roof and these hangers have lateral recesses 28 for receiving wedges 29 which have upper grooves 30 for receiving and supporting the ropes. The wedges when driven into place wedge the rope sections in position against the roof to hold cross timbers 23 up against the roof as shown in FIG. 6. Evidently this modified hanger and wedge construction may be used with continuous ropes as in the preferred embodiment.

In the form of the invention shown in FIGS. 9a and 9b, the reeling means 9 -is mounted on a bracket 31 mounted on the continuous mining machine, and the ropes of the roof supporting means extend from this reel around suitable idlers 18 on the machine, upwardly and longitudinally in supporting engagement with the roof hangers, and the extreme right-hand ends of the single strand ropes are attached at 22 to the hanger at the extreme right as viewed in FIG. 9b. Thus as the machine advances the ropes are unwound from the reel and additional anchor Ibolt hangers and cross timbers are added as mining progresses. Otherwise this form is similar to the preferred embodiment.

As a result of this invention an improved exible roof supporting means is provided which may be readily eX- tended longitudinally within the mine passageway as the working face is advanced. By the provision of the exible wire ropes extending longitudinally within the mine passageway and anchored at points along its length to the roof, the cross timbers or other roof supports may be firmly held up against the roof thereby eliminating the need for upright props. The reeling means on which the ropes are wound may pay out the ropes as the min-ing machine advances, and by mounting the reeling means on the machine control of reel by the machine operator may readily be made possible. As the working place is mined out the ropes, rope Wedge supports and cross timbers may be readily removed for use elsewhere without disturbing the roof anchor bolts. Other advantages will be clearly apparent to-those skilled in the art.

While there are in this application speciiically described two forms and a modification which the invention may assume in practice, it Iwill be understood that these forms and modification of the same are shown for purposes of illustration and that the invention may be further modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit or the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. 1n combination, a mining machine for forming a passageway in the mine vein of an underground mine, a roof supporting means mounted on said mining machine, said means including flexible supporting elements extendable therefrom longitudinally of such passageway at the roof thereof, said liexible supporting elements being connected fto 4said machine to be fed therefrom for supporting such roof as said machine advances, and wherein said mining machine has reeling means mounted thereon for storing said iiexible elements.

2. A method of progressively supporting a mine roof in' accordance with the advance of a miner into a mineral vein toward a working face comprising feeding a iiexible tension member from such miner, anchoring the end of said exible member to such mine roof, anchoring such miner, anchoring one end of each of said exible members to such mine roof, anchoring each of said flexible members to such mine roof at spaced points intermediate said one end `of ysaid respective iiexible member and the working face adjacent said miner in response to the advance of said miner into a mineral vein, placing bridging members between such mine roof and said spaced flexible tension members for supporting such mineral vein roof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 444,855 Ries Ian. 20, 1891 1,562,568 Linquist Nov. 24, 1925 1,990,838 Nemec Feb. 12, 1935 1,994,087 Onstad Mar. 12, 1935 2,106,724 Cope Feb. 1, 1938 2,716,025 Malloy et al. Aug. 23, 1955 2,772,871 Caine Dec. 4, 1956 2,801,522 Kuhn Aug. 6, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 217,547 Germany Jan. 6, 1910 303,503 Germany of 1918 `652,701 Great Britain May 2, 1951 805,635 Germany May 25, 1951 142,080 Sweden of 1953 537,195 Belgium Apr. 30, 1955 189,594 Austria Apr. 10, 1957 808,500 Great Britain Feb. 4,

OTHER REFERENCES German printed application, A 22361 VVI/5c, Aug. 6, 1956. 

1. IN COMBINATION, A MINING MACHINE FOR FORMING A PASSAGEWAY IN THE MINE VEIN OF AN UNDERGROUND MINE, A ROOF SUPPORTING MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID MINING MACHINE, SAID MEANS INCLUDING FLEXIBLE SUPPORTING ELEMENTS EXTENDABLE THEREFROM LONGITUDINALLY OF SUCH PASSAGEWAY AT THE ROOF THEREOF, SAID FLEXIBLE SUPPORTING ELEMENTS BE- 